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(No Model.)

J. P. CURRY. SHOE PASTENER.

No. 600,714. Patented Mar. 15,1898.

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JOHN F. CURRY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWVARE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO EDWVARD N. KRAUSE, OF SAME PLACE.

SHOE-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent I \To. 600,714, dated March 15, 1898.

Application filed February 18, 1897. Serial No. 623,950. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN F. CURRY, a citizen of the United States, residing at I/Vilmington, in the county of New Castle and State of Delaware, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Shoe- Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a new and useful improvement in shoe-fasteners, and has for its object to provide a simple and effective device which, when placed in series upon the meeting edges of shoe-flaps,will greatly facilitate the securement of said edges in their proper relative position to hold the shoe upon the foot after the manner of the ordinary lacing and which will permit the unlacing or unfastening of the shoe for its removal without the withdrawal of the lacing from the hooks or housings.

WVith these ends in view this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then specifically designated by the claim.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains may understand how to make and use the same, its construction and operation will now be described in detail, referring to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which--- Figure 1 represents a shoe having my improved fasteners secured thereon; and Fig. 2, an enlarged section of the meeting edges of the shoe-flaps, showing my improved fasteners in detail.

In carrying out my invention as here embodied I provide a housing, which consists of a base-strip A and a spring-tongue B, the former having cut and bent therefrom the prongs O and D, by which it is securely fastened to the material of the shoe, as clearly shown on the right hand of Fig. 2, and projecting upward from each of these strips is a post E, having 3' ournaled thereon a grooved roll F, the upper end of the post being headed so as to retain the roll in place.

The tongue B of each of the fasteners projects over the rolls and is so curved as to protect the latter and prevent the lacing from slipping from off the roll when it is being operated for lacing the shoe; but as this tongue is of spring material having a sufficient amount of resiliency to permit its being sprung upward it follows that the lacing may be withdrawn from the inclosure of the housing by forcing said tongue upward, or said lacing may be replaced within the inclosure of the housing by likewise forcing the tongue upward.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that when the meeting edges of the flaps of a shoe are provided with a series of these fasteners the lacing-cord G, after first being passed through the eyelets H at the bottom of the flaps, may successively be passed within the inclosures of the housings, as before described, and crossed and recrossed until reaching the top of the shoe, so that when said shoe is placed upon the foot the slack may be drawn from the lacing by simply pulling upon the upper ends thereof, since the rolls will greatly reduce the friction between the fastenings and the lacing and permit this operation. After all of the slack has been withdrawn from the lacing and the shoe thereby secured upon the foot, the surplusends of the lacing may be secured by being forced between the jaws of a suitable clasp I.

When the shoe is to be removed from the foot, the upper ends of the lacing are withdrawn from the clasp and the flaps forced apart sufficiently to permit the withdrawal of the shoe, during which operation the lacing will pass around the rolls and draw in suflicord until slack has been taken from the interlaced sections thereof. 7

While I have here shown the fasteners as provided with prongs for their securement to the flaps of the shoe, it is obvious that any other method may be utilized for this purpose, such as eyeleting or stapling.

The cost of manufacture of a fastener made in accordance with my improvement will be but little, if any, in advance of the cost of manufacture of the ordinary hoolcfasteners, since the only addition thereto is the rolls, and they may be produced by automatic inachinery at exceedingly small cost.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new and useful is- In a device of the character described, a housing formed of a singe flat piece of sheet metal bent to produce a base and a springtongue which is bent up and over substantially parallel With said base, prongs bent down from the base to attach the housing" to the goods, a post secured to the base and projecting' upward having a rounded head terminating below the tongue, a grooved roll journaled on the post, said tongue being so placed as to allow the spring-tongue to project beyond the roll, as and for the purpose set forth.

S. S. WILLIAMSON, ALLISON W. MoCURDY. 

